With The Mind
by AndSheWasBeautiful
Summary: Love sees not with the eyes but with the mind. Roy Mustang watches Riza Hawkeye grow up and prides himself on being able to read her... Even a little bit.


_love sees not with the eyes, but with the mind._

* * *

The first time he had seen her, she was 9 years old, lanky and quiet, dark eyes resting sombrely against the bone white of her skin. Her blonde hair had been long and yanked back in a long pony tail, meeting the middle of her back as she was forever doing chores for her father. Her father had brought him to her the first day of his training and sat them opposite each other.

Roy remembered every inch of her nearly translucent skin, as her hands sat calmly folded on her lap, as she stared at him steadily – he remembered feeling more uncomfortable than he ever had with his master, as those eyes bored into his skin, seemingly absorbing everything about him whilst he could tell nothing about her. She was truly a closed book, and a young man so used to observing things about people and using it to his advantage was indefinitely thrown off.

"Mustang," his teacher barked, sparking Roy out of his day dream.

"Yes sir," he replied quickly, turning his attention to his master.

"This is my daughter Riza. You're to treat her with as much respect as you treat me, and if I catch you doing anything untoward to her, you'll undoubtedly see how good I am at alchemy," he replied sharply, picking up a book on the table. "You have 5 minutes to introduce yourselves. Mustang, I expect to see you in my office afterwards."

Roy watched Hawkeye leave and turned back to the quiet girl. Her eyes had followed her father's form out the door also, and when she felt his eyes upon her, quickly met his gaze. The two stared in what Roy couldn't determine was comfortable or uncomfortable silence for a moment before he drew a sharp breath.

"Hi, I'm Roy. Roy Mustang. It's nice to meet you," he stated offering his hand and watching as she considered it a moment and finally took it, a polite smile appearing on his face. Roy gulped, taken aback at the pleasantness of this girl's smile.

"I'm Riza Hawkeye. It's nice to meet you too Roy Mustang. Shall I call you Mustang like father does?"

Roy's brows knotted in confusion before he removed his hand from Riza Hawkeye's. He shrugged, laughing a little at her question.

"I suppose… if you like. Whatever you prefer… Miss Hawkeye," he answered, clenching his fist upon his knee. She nodded carefully and retracted her hand also settling it in her lap.

"How is it you found my father then, Mr… Mustang?" she asked, her eyes young and old beyond her years all at once. Roy shot forward in his seat and gaped at her openly.

"Are you kidding? Your father's a legend! One of the best alchemists that's ever practiced in Amestris I'd say!" he enthused, watching as her face remained expressionless, her figure closed tight to any display of emotion.

"Is he really? How incredible," she said, her words soft as her lips barely moved. "Weren't your parents worried about you coming to live with a stranger?"

Roy felt the familiar twang of pain twist through his abdomen at the mention of parents that he didn't know, but he hid it well as usual and grinned shrugging his shoulders.

"I never met 'em. My foster mother says my real mother was from Xing and my dad was from Amestris. Something about conflict between the nations at the time I was born and long story short they couldn't keep me. It's okay though, my foster mother wanted me to pursue alchemy – she wants me to do well for myself," he said loudly and confidently as he always did, ignoring the pangs of want for his true parents, even to know what they were like, or what happened to them.

Riza Hawkeye eyed him pensively before tilting her head slightly.

"I'm sorry for asking. I shouldn't have pried."

Roy's shoulders dropped and he eyed her suspiciously, wondering how in the world this girl he had never met before had seen through his exquisitely crafted façade. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, his teacher was standing in the doorway.

"Mustang! I expected you in my office 30 seconds ago. I will not tolerate lateness young man! You will write me 3 pages on the four base components of alchemy and their uses in elemental transmutation circles!"

Roy leapt from his seat, and bowed his head at Riza quickly, a smile darting across his face.

"Nice meeting you Miss Riza," he said following his teacher hurriedly as he stormed out of the living room.

Riza watched his back as he walked out the door and wondered how many times in her lifetime she would do that.

* * *

As they lived together, ate together, woke together, the two young people built up a steady relationship, in which Riza began to idolize Roy, secretly and silently. He was such a dedicated student, not like the rest of the flops her father had thrown out in her lifetime, and he never had his nose out of a complicated alchemic text, never stopped tracing circles in the dirt, on countertops with his fingertips, the hunger in those Xingese eyes of his always alight when alchemy was mentioned.

For her 14th birthday, he transmuted a pair of brilliantly bright earrings which looked like silver but shone a distinct blue in the light.

She had come downstairs for a glass of water, early on the morning of her birthday before the sun had risen, to find Roy Mustang asleep in the armchair beside the dying cinders of the fire from the night before, a book resting atop his nose. She smiled gently, fetching her water before carefully padding over to his side and removing the book from his face.

She was startled for an instant as she found herself wanting to just stare at his face. He was just a year older than she was, but already he was starting to chisel his way into manhood, his voice becoming mottled and deeper, his skin rougher with dark hair, his high cheekbones more pronounced, drawing attention to those onyx black eyes.

Not that she had been paying attention.

She tore her attention away from his face, and settled a blanket across his form, tucking it in gently around his sides, and smiling softy as he murmured in his sleep, childlike and innocent in his slumber. She turned to leave, stopping dead as she felt a hand grasp her own.

"Riiiiiiiiiza," he muttered, tugging on her fingertips, turning her back to face him. She tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes… Mustang?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She sees one shiny eye pop open in the darkness, the shimmer of a beetle's back meeting her own chocolate brown eyes. He grinned and handed her a small box, pale grey and simple.

"Happy birthday," he said simply, turned round in the chair and drawing the blanket closer to him. Riza looked at the box in the palm of her hand, and opened her mouth to thank the boy in the chair. When words failed her, she simply clutched the box tighter into her fist, turned on her heel and fled to her room, to lie on her bed in darkness and smile like the fool she knew she was.

* * *

When she was 16 and he was 17, they lay in the field behind her home, immersed in the long grass, upon a woven mat Roy had transmuted especially for the evening. There was supposed to be a meteor shower tonight, and Roy knew Riza was desperate to see it, simply by the tiny glimmer in her eye he caught when her father mentioned it.

He prided himself on being able to read her even a little these days.

He stole a glance at her from his spot at her side, her straw blonde hair fanning around her like a golden halo, her mouth slightly open as she counted the constellations in the sky. He suddenly became very aware of her body next to his, the curve of her hips, the shine of her legs as they stretched before her, clad only in gym shorts to save her from the all consuming heat of the high summer, the swell of her chest. He gulped.

When had the scrawny little 9 year old become a woman?

He propped himself up on his elbow and poked her side. She glanced at him curiously, almost warily at the sight of his trademark mischievous smirk.

"What?" she asked cautiously. His cat-like grin grew wider and brighter.

"What do you mean what?" he asked teasingly, tracing a transmutation circle on the woven blanket. Riza pouted slightly in thought and then said clearly,

"You know what I mean what."

Roy laughed outwardly, and wriggled closer to her with his elbow. She didn't flinch away, rather looked at his elbow questioningly. A small smile was upon her lips, a brow raised. Roy glanced at the sky, the stars still in the heavens, no sign of any meteor shower to be seen. He frowned and decided it was as good a time as ever to find out more about this girl he had become so close with, but still viewed as a challenging enigma.

And if there was one thing Roy Mustang liked, it was a challenge.

"Say Riza," he threw lightly at her. She made a little noise in her throat to show she was listening, relaxed and entranced by the stars. "You know you're supposed to make wishes during meteor showers right?"

She glanced at him, eyebrows raised and propped her own head up on her hand.

"I didn't actually," she said, peering up at the sky whilst his own eyes stared intently at the soft curves of her face, the dark hue of her eyes, the length of her lashes.

"Yup," he said, grin never leaving his face. "What're you gonna wish for?"

She snorted in laughter and shot him a glance.

"I thought you were supposed to keep wishes a secret or else they didn't come true," she replied dryly, the smile in her voice enough to egg Roy on. He rolled his eyes, keeping her gaze locked with his.

"That's only birthday wishes and… those wishes when you blow an eyelash off your finger," he mused, and Riza nodded as though she was considering his point, before her lips broke into a long luxurious smile.

"Even so… I think I'll keep it to myself thank you."

Roy rolled back onto his back, as the first meteor crossed the sky, enlightening the darkness with a spark of red and gold.

"I see… you know Riza, I think I can guess what your wish is," he said mischievously. Riza fell onto her back too, the smile in her voice evident.

"How do you know I've even got one yet?"

The two lay in silence as the meteor shower cascaded the skies above the field, dancing across the heavens. As it reached its climax Riza pushed herself up from the ground, sitting upright and gazing straight up at the sky. The lights in her eyes made them sparkle brighter than usual, and her smile was small and bewildered. Roy watched in rapt fascination at innocence on her face that he so rarely saw, her cool exterior breaking momentarily to give way to the wonders of the shower.

"Isn't it beautiful Roy?" she murmured, her cheeks staining pink the second the word left her lips. Her neck snapped down in an instant, and Roy's face was at her side just as quickly.

"What did you call me?" he asked, a little too breathlessly for his own good, and Riza Hawkeye shook her head, lost for words for the first time since he'd met her.

"I didn't- "

At that moment, he grasped her cheek with his hand, his lips catching hers fleetingly, in one heart-stopping moment. Her nose was cold, but her lips were warm and the smoothness of her alabaster cheek beneath his palm sizzled. He pulled away softly, their faces inches from each other and Riza shook her head in confusion, still fighting to make words erupt from her throat. Finally, she spluttered and pulled back from him.

"Why did you do that?" she questioned, too harshly, too defensively.

But Roy Mustang simply laughed as that impish grin found its way back to his face and he shrugged, turning his face back up to the end of the shower.

"I just made your wish come true, right Riza?"

The words hung in the air for a moment, before he felt a sharp pain in his side as she shoved him to the ground. She didn't shout in anger, she didn't hiss in annoyance, she simply turned her head upwards and watched the sky, tight lipped as he laughed and clutched his ribcage. When she spoke again, her composure had returned to her and a wry smile was in her words.

"Someone thinks highly of himself."

It only made Roy laugh harder.

* * *

When he turned 18, he went away for a few months to see his family, to put some of his alchemy into practice, and to ponder upon what to do next.

When he returned, her hair was cut short, her back seemed to always be hunched, and her father was decrepit and dying, his flame alchemy inches from being lost.

"The secret lies with my daughter," he said.

* * *

She had been disappointed in him for joining the military, but she understood better than anyone had ever tried why he wanted… needed to. She promised him she would give him the secrets and when they returned to the house, it was as dead and lifeless as her father was.

Roy sat, glancing around the room as Riza made tea, and finally stopped busying herself metres from him. Her eyes were stony, and he wondered for the umpteenth time why she had cut her beautiful blonde hair.

As she turned and unbuttoned her blouse, his eyes had widened and his calm exterior had cracked, and when the thin fabric fell from her shoulders and he caught a glimpse of her back for the first time, his heart had clenched in confusion and sadness for Riza.

"Here it is. Flame alchemy. You know my father. He was paranoid of writing any of it on paper. He said this way…" her voice faltered and Roy stood wanting to comfort her, wanting to tell her that everything was all right, for reasons unbeknownst to him. She caught herself at the last moment. "He said this way, only you would see it, because I'm as untrustworthy as he is."

Roy tried to speak, but the words were dry and meaningless. He reached out a hand to hold her, but could only bring himself to settle it upon her shoulder, seeing the jagged line of her hair where her father had obviously cut it in hasty panic.

"Riza…" he murmured but she cut him off, her shoulders stiffening.

"Please… please… Roy."

His own body tensed at the use of his name. The second time in her entire life she had said it, this time with true meaning and purpose behind it. She bit her lip and he knew she was holding back a cascade of emotions, just as she had always done.

"Please just take it."

* * *

He would never really know why she had become his lieutenant and why she had sworn to protect his life with her own.

He would never really know exactly how he felt about her, because she was different and special and _Riza_.

But he would not question it either.

For he would also never really be able to count the number of times the hawk's eyes had saved his life. And for that, he would never be able to repay her.

… Not in gold or silver anyway.

* * *

**Because I adore these two. Please review if you enjoyed!**


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